And We’re Back!

Mean old Miss McMillan gave her students homework on the very first day of school! Seriously! I asked my new students to complete two Google Forms to share their opinions on two questions: What is a fair teacher? And what makes a great classmate? I took their responses to those two questions and created two separate Wordles. In case you don’t know, Wordle takes the words you enter and creates a word cloud with the words used most often being the largest. For example, in the first Wordle below, A Great Classmate, you can see that the most popular responses from my students were “helpful” and “kind”.

A Great Classmate

I really enjoyed their responses to “What is a fair teacher?” I think I can fulfill these requests. 🙂

What is a fair teacher?

 

Are You Ready?

Well, ready or not, here it comes…The First Day of School! Your teachers have been at work for a week now, getting everything ready for your arrival tomorrow. And we…can’t…wait!!! A school just isn’t a school until it is filled with students.

If you’re wondering what you will need for tomorrow, read on, my friend. Along with all of your school supplies, you will want to make sure to have:

• a silent reading book (yes, even on the first day of school there may be time for some reading).
• a snack (your body needs to readjust to not being able to eat whenever you want; I’m sure you’ll be hungry by the time recess rolls around).
• a great attitude (hey, we’re in this together for an entire year…let’s make it a great one!)
• a smile (learning is awesome…be happy about that!)

Let’s Do This!!!

Only 179 To Go!

The Class of 2012

Day One is in the books, and I think it went pretty well! Plenty of smiling faces in my classroom. I’m hoping it wasn’t just because there was air conditioning inside! We are going to have a fabulous year, my friends! And I’m so excited that I’m surrounded by so many students who love reading as much as I do!!! I can’t wait to start talking about books with all of you. I’m sure I’ll be taking voluminous notes about the books I want to read next.

I’m sure tomorrow will be an extremely long day for all of us, so you may want to bring an extra snack. It’s also going to be plenty hot, so we all need to drink lots of water.

And, of course, don’t forget your book!

It Never Fails!

First Day of School Forecast

Every year! The first day of school will be here in two days and the weather forecast is calling for HEAT! Lots of it!! So please come prepared on Tuesday. Bring a water bottle and plan on drinking plenty of it.

If you do happen to see this post before Tuesday, please also be sure to bring a silent reading book with you EVERY DAY, starting with the first day of school. We are a Community of Readers in seventh grade!

Here We Go!

Time to get this thing started! While my students are sleeping in this morning, I am getting myself ready to go back to school for the first time after a lovely summer vacation. This may come as a shock to my students and students everywhere, but I’m not entirely happy about it either. I love summer break! I love being able to sleep in, to lounge about all day reading a good book, to visit my local bookstore or library and just wander about aimlessly.

But I also love my students. And so I will return to work today with a smile on my face because I know that next week at this time this will be you:

Only with a lot less fur, I hope!

Ok, I’m kidding! But I am looking forward to seeing each and every one of my students next week, even if you’re not looking forward to it! We are going to have an amazing year…I guarantee it!!

Our school theme this year is Imagination. So, before you return next week, I want you each to imagine a wonderful year ahead of you and then make it happen! Our motto in Seventh Grade this year will be:

First you dream it, then you create it!

Be thinking about that over the next week…there will be a test on the first day of school. 🙂

[Yes, I’m kidding. There won’t be a test on the first day of school!]